This invention relates to combined product display and storage equipment and more particularly to a combined product display and storage unit particularly suitable for merchandising of shoes and the like and which makes possible increased efficiency in utilization of floor space and sales personnel for product merchandising and is comprised of two end panels having between them a plurality of shelves positioned one above the other with storage spaces between them, the end panels extending a distance beyond the front edges of the shelves, a series of horizontally disposed trough-like formations positioned side-by-side with one above the other at the front edges of the shelves and between the panel extensions to hide the shelves from customer view, each trough-like formation having an upper and a lower outwardly extending sides, the lower side of each trough-like formation being comprised of a plurality of contiguous product display platforms in a row at the upper side of the next lower trough-like formation, each product display platform being fulcrumed to pivot upwardly to provide access to the storage space on an associated one of the shelves.
The practice in merchandising products such as shoes is generally such that it is difficult for a customer or prospective customer to examine a shoe offered for sale without the attendance of a salesperson. This is because shoes are ordinarily packaged in boxes and the boxes arranged upon shelves, some of which are along the walls of the merchandising sales rooms and a large portion of which are warehoused in backrooms accessible to only the sales personnel. While the customer or prospective customer may often observe some relatively few shoes which are set out to show a few samples carried in stock, it is an infrequent coincidence if such displayed samples are in the proper size and style desired by the customer. Seeing the shoe in the customer's size and style is particularly desirable for women's shoes because of the many styles and the fact that styles may vary in attractiveness depending upon the size of the particular shoe in such style. For example, a shoe which may be attractive to a customer in a small size 5 may be quite unattractive in a size 10. Hence a prospective customer being aware of this possibility, necessarily desires in a shopping tour to see the various styles of shoes in her own particular size before making a purchase determination. However, in view of the high cost of maintaining sufficient sales personnel to service prospective customers, many sales are lost for either lack of time or impatience of a prospective customer to wait for service of a sales person.
Also, much of the merchandising value of store space is lost in that, as pointed out above, most of the shoes are hidden from view in boxes carried on storage shelves in the sales room as well as being warehoused in the back rooms of the store accessible only to employees. Some efforts have been made toward increasing merchandising display and more efficient storage, but such equipment is generally too expensive in construction, lacks sufficient versatility or creates other undesirable problems. For example U.S. Pat. No. 1,603,590 proposes a structure for inserting in conventional wall shelves a display panel for some of the stored shoes. The device carries a hinged board at the front of the shelf extending the width of a shelf section with mechanism occupying some of the storage space and requires lifting of the entire hinged board for access to the storage space behind the board, even though the board is long enough to be carrying a long line of shoes on display.
In a more recent U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,576, a greater display capacity is achieved with a boxlike telescoping structure wherein shoes are displayed on two opposed walls between which is a telescoping boxlike storage structure which may be laterally moved with respect to the display walls for access to the mate of a displayed shoe. While this structure has greater display appeal over that of the shelf insert device mentioned above, it is nevertheless cumbersome in its operation in that it is relatively complex in construction and requires lateral clearance space for telescoping movement of the boxlike storage compartment and thereby loses valuable merchandising space within a store.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a combined product display and storage device which permits the conversion of warehousing and other storage space into highly productive merchandising space.
Another object is the provision of a combined product display and storage device which is particularly applicable for merchandising products which are sold in a variety of sizes and styles such as shoes, overshoes, and the like.
And a further object is the provision of a combined product display and storage device with permits efficient display of one of a pair of all sizes of shoes in all styles carried by a store for customer view without the need for prior assistance of sales personnel.
And a still further object is the provision of a combined product display and storage device which retains hidden the mate of each displayed shoe in readily accessible position for sales personnel without the need for leaving the site of the displayed shoe and which provides a deterrent to stealing by others.
And another object is the provision of a combined product display and storage device which is applicable to display of products in front of wall shelves as well as display on both sides of the shelves.
Further objects include the provision of of a combined product display and storage device which lends itself to free standing construction moveable to any desired floor position, may be manually assembled and dissassembled without tools of any kind, and lends itself to rapid and relatively inexpensive component changes as well as positioning in adjoining consecutive units to form rows of any desired length.